minnesota, fall 2014
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Special 100th Homecoming issueTRANSCRIPT
CELEBRATE 100 YEARS GOLDY STYLEHOMECOMING 2014
ALSO:
Greek RevivalGenerations of AlumniIn the MOOC
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A collaboration between University of Minnesota Physicians and University of Minnesota Medical Center.
THE RETURN OF YOUR BEST DETAILER.
AN ORDINARY MOMENT MADE POSSIBLE BY ANEXTRAORDINARY MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGH.
At University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital, we create breakthrough solutions for a whole host of health conditions. From pediatric emergency care to treatment of leukemia, liver disease, or other illnesses, you can take comfort in knowing that our pediatric specialists have a growing body of breakthroughs to work with—whatever your child’s healthcare needs.
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7 Editor’s Note
8 Letters
10 About CampusThe surprising truth about wolves, helping bring an old cemetery to life, and alumni make the U shine
14 Alumni StoriesLarissa Anderson’s funny job, Jack Brewer’s life mission, and more
20 Greek RevivalThe campus initiative that’s rejuvenating fraternities and sororities
24 Free for the TakingMOOCs haven’t revolutionized higher ed yet, but U professors are helping revolutionize MOOCs.
51 Gopher SportsFrom Gopher captain to Gopher coach
54 Gopher ConnectionsMake the most of your member benefits
56 Campus SeenOur photo finish
Cover Story 32 Generations
For families with generations of alumni, the University of Minnesota isn’t only an institution of higher education—it’s home.BY TIM BRADY AND SUZY FRISCH
40 HistoryHomecoming celebrations in the past 100 years have included just about everything. BY TIM BRADY
47 Homecoming Guide The comprehensive guide for alumni
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Volume 114 • Number 1 / Fall 2014
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
page 56
page 40
page 20
PHOTOS: Goldy cover and flip book by Rick Dublin and Kristi Anderson. This page, clockwise from top: LRT by Sher Stoneman; Dungy and Gallogly courtesy University Archives; Greek by Sara Rubinstein
Top: Washington Avenue looking east from the East Bank light rail station
2 Fa l l 2 0 1 4 M I N N E S O TA
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Chair Jim du Bois, ’87
Chair-elect Alison Page, ’96
Vice Chair Dan McDonald, ’82, ’85
Secretary/Treasurer Sandra Ulsaker Weise, ’81
Past Chair Susan Adams Loyd, ’81
President and CEO Lisa Lewis
Judy Beniak, ’82, ’10Wendy Williams Blackshaw, ’82
Natasha Freimark, ’95Gayle Hallin, ’70, ’77
Randy HandelLinda Hofflander, ’83Douglas Huebsch, ’85
Janice Linster, ’83Laura Moret, ’76, ’81Alex Oftelie, ’03, ’06
Amy Phenix, ’08Roshini Rajkumar, ’97
Clinton Schaff, ’00Kathy Schmidlkofer, ’97Alfonso Sintjago, ’14, ’15
Joelle Stangler, ’16Dave Walstad, ’88, ’91
Jean Wyman
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA GOVERNANCE
PresidentEric Kaler, ’82
Board of RegentsRichard Beeson, ’76, chairDean Johnson, vice chair
Clyde AllenLaura Brod, ’93
Linda Cohen, ’85, ’86Tom Devine ’79
John Frobenius, ’69David Larson, ’66
Peggy Lucas, ’64, ’76David McMillan, ’83, ’87
Abdul Omari, ’08, ’10Patricia Simmons
Contact the Alumni AssociationTo join or renew, change your address,
or obtain benefit information, go to www.MinnesotaAlumni.org or contact us at McNamara Alumni Center, 200 Oak St. SE, Suite 200, Minneapolis, MN 55455-2040;
800-UM-ALUMS (862-5867), 612-624-2323; or [email protected]
The University of Minnesota Alumni Association is committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal access to its programs, facilities,
and employ ment without regard to race, religion, color, sex, national origin, handicap, age, veteran status, or sexual orientation.
WelcomeHome.
See what’s new in Bloomington
during your stroll down memory lane.
Stay at one of Bloomington’s 38 hotels for the
University of Minnesota’s 100 year
Homecoming celebration.
Visit BloomingtonMN.org or 800-346-4289
4 S u m m e r 2 0 1 4 M I N N E S O TA
President and CEOLisa Lewis
Vice President of CommunicationsDaniel Gore
EditorCynthia Scott
Editor (on leave)Shelly Fling
Copy EditorSusan Maas
Contributing EditorMeleah Maynard
Contributing Writers Jennifer Benson, Tim Brady,
Greg Breining, Dan Carlinsky, Suzy Frisch, Marla Holt, Rick Moore, Andy Steiner
Art DirectorKristi Anderson, Two Spruce Design
Media PartnersAccess Minnesota and Gopher Sports Update
Advertising Rates and InformationKetti Histon
612-280-5144, [email protected]
Minnesota (ISSN 0164-9450) is published four times a year (Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer) by
the University of Minnesota Alumni Association for its members.
Copyright ©2014 by the University of Minnesota Alumni Association
McNamara Alumni Center 200 Oak Street SE, Suite 200
Minneapolis, MN 55455-2040 612-624-2323, 800-UM-ALUMS (862-5867)
fax 612-626-8167 www.MinnesotaAlumni.org
To update your address, call 612-624-2323 or e-mail [email protected]
Periodicals postage paid at St. Paul, Minnesota, and additional mailing offices.
POSTMASTER: Send address corrections to: McNamara Alumni Center 200 Oak St. SE, Suite 200
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ALUMNI ASSOCIATION SINCE 1901
Not all breakthroughs make headlines. What one person considers a breakthrough may simply be a day at the lake to another. Or taking one less prescription. Or being able to play with the kids. From checkups to transplants, the care team at University of Minnesota Health pays just as much attention to making the breakthroughs that change our patients’ lives as they do to making the ones that change the world.
HANGING OUT WITH YOUR CREW.
AN ORDINARY MOMENT MADE POSSIBLE BY AN EXTRAORDINARY MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGH.
A collaboration between University of Minnesota Physicians and University of Minnesota Medical Center.
To find out more, or make an appointment, call 844-273-8383 or visit umnhealth.org today.
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Editor’s Note
Flipping Out
It was a cold, raw, rainy Saturday in June when the new Green Line of the light rail transit system made its debut. The line runs between St. Paul and Minneapolis right through campus on Washington Avenue. Eager to get on board after having watched the line take shape out-
side the McNamara Alumni Center, I decided to check it out. A party atmosphere prevailed inside the cars (“Hey, it still has that new
train smell,” someone cracked). As we pulled into the University of Minne-sota’s West Bank stop, the doors opened to dozens of U students standing on the platform handing out free foam gopher ears. A stampede ensued—kids and adults alike bolted from their seats to collect the treasure before the doors closed. By the time we crossed the Wash-ington Avenue Bridge and came to a halt at the East Bank station, nearly everyone was sporting gopher ears.
I love how much people love the U. That’s what this special Homecoming issue is about. One story in particular exemplifies it: “It’s a Family Thing,” begin-ning on page 32, features four families who have multiple generations of Univer-sity of Minnesota alumni. Included among them is the Mooty/Glaser family, this year’s Homecoming parade grand mar-shals. (As Bruce Mooty [B.A. ’77, J.D. ’80] comments in the story, a flatbed truck will be required to accommodate the entire clan.) What strikes me about all the families is how the depth and breadth of their connection to the U transcend any particular era, administration, or college. They connect to the heartbeat of the U. And they, in turn, help the heart keep on beating.
We thought it proper to feature Goldy in an issue celebrating the 100th anniversary of Homecoming, so we ordered a custom-made gold jacket for him and put him on the cover. Being the strong, silent type, he didn’t say what he thought of the jacket, but when he broke into unrestrained dancing at the photo shoot we figured he liked it. And we really liked his moves. So we created a flipbook in the upper right hand page corners of this issue so that you can enjoy them, too. I want to thank Hubbard Broadcasting for gen-erously allowing Goldy to flip out on its ad .
You’ll find our Homecoming Guide for Alumni on page 47. Check out the offerings and join in the festivities. And take the light rail when you come to campus—it still has that new train smell. n
Cynthia Scott (M.A. ’89) is the editor of Minnesota. She can be reached at [email protected].
Cynthia Scott
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8 Fa l l 2 0 1 4 M I N N E S O TA
Letters
UNI VE RSIT Y OF M I NNE SOTA ALUM NI ASSOCI ATION
FALL 2013
RESEARCHERS HOPE TO STOP
A MINNESOTA ICON FROM DYING
Inside the New
MEDICAL DEVICES
CENTER
Football Gopher
RA’SHEDE HAGEMAN
Banned:
EXTREME AND
INDECENT DANCING
THE RACE TO
SAVE THEMOOSE
Uni ve rsit y of M i nne sota a lUM ni associ ation
WINTER 2014
Alumna CeCe Terlouw
helps abused girls
rebuild their lives
Kids TeACh U reseArChers
AboUT resilienCe
The birTh of Child WelfAre
sTUdies AT The U in 1925
Unbridled Hope
PLUS CoUrT Time WiTh CoACh PiTino • The TrUTh AboUT The borgiAs
READERS WEIGH IN ON CLIMATE CHANGE
The articles on climate change [Sum-mer 2014] are presented as if a crisis is widely accepted as fact and there were no dissenting views or science. Rather than jumping on this liberal bandwagon, I expect better of the U. Both views and experts on both sides should be present-ed. Our planet is some 5 billion years old and climate change is continuous. I have yet to see reliable, empirical data that proves we have any significant influence on these events. Until I see it presented from a reliable source in a credible way I do not buy it. As a society we are in the process of wasting major resources on a problem we have very little control over, a huge disservice to our country. The “global warming” theory could not be supported so we had to move on to “cli-mate change” instead? Let’s focus on real problems that need real solutions, please!
Warren Thompson (B.S. ’74) Baltic, South Dakota
What can we do about climate change? Prepare for the next heating or cooling cycle, of which there have been over 600. Currently, we need to build oil refineries and power plants to supply our country with the increasing need for heating and cooling. As things stand now, brownouts and blackouts will increase, disrupting our economy and the nation’s health.
The history of earth’s climate is one of constant change, warming and cooling in
established cycles over millions of years. Global warming exists, global cooling exists. Neither is affected by man’s activ-ity. It is a natural phenomenon.
Tom Nordeen (B.A. ’91)St. Paul
Jonathan Foley writes, “Minnesota’s climate, like that of every other place in the world, is changing.” That is certainly correct. Then, he goes on to say: “And it’s changing because of us.” While fre-quently asserted, such an idea is based upon theory and laboratory data that is neither supported nor contradicted by any meaningful atmospheric or other climate data.
As he next states, correctly: “This isn’t new science. In fact, the basic physics of the greenhouse effect have been known since the early 1800s and are widely accepted by the scientific community.”
True enough, but this does not equate to his previous assertion that the effects of human activities are changing our climate. What he actually said—his key point—is, in a word, a falsehood, and an embarrassment to the publication.
He next states, correctly, [that] there is no serious scientific debate [that] global climate change is very real. But then, he gets off track by adding, “. . . is well under-stood, and is going to get worse unless we act soon.”
Climate change is far from being well understood and with the level of current understanding, it is not possible to say that it may or may not get worse irrespec-tive of whether we “act soon” or not.
It would seem that the editor failed to have the Foley piece reviewed by any informed and knowledgeable examin-ers, and, as a consequence, is not up to the standard I have come to expect of the alumni publication.
G. Charles Hann (B.Ch.E. ’45, M.S.Chem.E. ’51)Minneapolis
Jonathan Foley responds: Geological and astronomical forces drove changes in the earth’s climate before humans were a major force on the planet. There is now an exceptionally strong consensus about cli-mate change by the world’s scientific com-munity. All major international scientific
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SPRING 2014
The restored proscenium,
ceiling, and new upper balcony
in the revitalized Northrop
The new Northrop
takes center stage
(HERE’S YOUR BACKSTAGE PASS)
organizations and national academies of science agree: The climate is warming, and we are the dominant force. Our activities, especially burning fossil fuels and forests, are driving changes in the composition of the atmosphere, increasing the levels of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, which are warming the planet. That warming is now obvious to nearly everyone and is completely consistent with a buildup of greenhouse gases.
As an alumna, I have been looking for the University’s leadership on climate adaptation. Sadly, I am much more aware of a predominance of research being used to catalyze a continued dependence on unsustainable solutions like fossil fuel-dependent, highly mechanized agricul-ture and food systems. As Minnesota’s flagship public university, it is the U’s responsibility to speak up and speak clearly about climate change.
As a livestock farmer, I found much to admire in your summer issue, but it could have said more about solutions that farmers, rural, and urban commu-nities are developing. We raise hogs for sale into an organic market. I would welcome a wider variety of grains like oats, barley, and wheat for sale in our area. Currently we cannot buy organic feed from our local elevator. We have to source, transport, grind, and mix it our-selves. The predominance of corn and soybeans, while promoting one kind of system, has limited the growth of other systems. And let’s not forget that while cattle are fed corn and soybeans, they prefer perennial grasses.
There are examples like the organic dairy herd and the alternative swine facil-ity at the University of Minnesota, Morris. This is far too limited. More funds for this kind of research would demonstrate that the University of Minnesota is a leader in helping people respond and think far into the future about climate adaptation.
Amy Bacigalupo (B.S. ’92, M.S. ’01)Montevideo, Minnesota
I would like to commend you for your series of articles regarding climate change. I am happy our university is
WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE? PLENTY.
EXCLUSIVELY FOR MEMBERS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION SUMMER 2014
Bohemian Flats Come to Life
PAGE 32
Rappin’ with Tall Paul
PAGE 12
Gophers Working M.A.G.I.C.
PAGE 34
Seven University researchers share their action agendas
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using its expertise to support the state by supplying valuable information to poli-cymakers and citizens. It is particularly important for our land grant university to model civil discussions and presentation of controversial topics such as this.
Tom Prieve (D.V.M. ’84)Ashby, Minnesota
I want to thank the editor and staff for publishing the excellent summer issue. As a retired watershed biologist, I really appreciate the work that the [University of Minnesota-based] Minnesota Insti-tute for Sustainable Agriculture and the Center for Integrated Natural Resources & Agricultural Management did on Min-nesota’s new Forever Green Initiative, which is lighting the way toward more resilient, efficient, and sustainably profit-able agriculture.
Those who attempt to discredit cli-mate science, deny that action must be
taken, or impede the public’s right to know about real risks and possible ways to respond, do themselves, their children, and their neighbors a great disservice. I appreciate the honesty and courage of media like Minnesota and academics at the U when they stand up to PR tactics with the truth.
Arthur Hawkins (B.A., B.S. ’71)Winona, Minnesota
Fundamentally, the magazine avoided the overarching issue of human caused climate change—population. An energy policy is first and foremost a population policy. Yet, in the entire issue, there is no mention of this essential factor.
In his State of the University 2014 speech, President Kaler describes some of the consequences of overpopula-tion, that is, poverty, social inequality, hunger, climate change, and spreading diseases. Yet, Dr. Kaler could not say
the words overpopulation, population growth, or goals such as sustainable societies.
The essence of Kaler’s and the Minne-sota articles is to continue the status quo: unlimited growth. Add some technologi-cal fixes here, compel a social fix there, and everything will be nothing but roses and good times going forward.
Clearly, despite the rhetoric to the contrary, the University of Minnesota believes its role is to encourage unlimited population growth in Minnesota and the United States and to develop technol-ogy and processes to modify social and economic lifestyles to accommodate that growth. Those environmental denizens of the 1960s and 1970s knew better. This won’t end well.
Dell Erickson (B.S.B. ’74)Minneapolis
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I’ve come across my share of dead bodies. This is the first person I’ve ever pulled out alive. So it was gratifying in that sense.”University of Minnesota assistant rowing coach Peter Morgan, who along with head coach Wendy Davis pulled an injured woman out of the Mississippi River while training in June
About Campus
The Surprising Truth about WolvesThree years ago, the wolf was taken off the federal endangered species list in its Midwestern strongholds of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Those states, along with Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, have subsequently opened controversial wolf hunts. On Isle Royale, a remote island on Lake Superior, the wolf population is at an all-time low and may soon die out, likely because of inbreeding. How much worse could the picture get for this icon of the wilderness?
Actually, things have never looked better for the wolf, says L. David Mech, adjunct professor in the Department of Fisher-ies, Wildlife and Conservation Biology and senior scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey. Author of the classic text The Wolf and a pioneer in the use of radio telemetry to study wolves, Mech is considered one of the world’s foremost experts on the animal.
Why is the wolf so controversial? I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that it’s the progenitor of the dog. It’s a familiar creature to us and yet it’s out there, it’s wild. It’s like our pet but it isn’t. Somehow that grabs the imagination. Who knows? I don’t even know what kind of a study one could do to try to learn why people are so emotional about wolves. But, boy, they sure are.
What is the state of wolf conservation?Quite good. This is the first time in history where wolf taking has been regulated. It used to be wide open. You could kill them any way, any time, anywhere. That’s how they got wiped out, mainly by poison. Now, it’s tightly regulated.
Since wolf numbers have rebounded, several states have allowed hunting and trapping. Do you see that as a setback?I would say it is a necessary product of success. I wrote a paper in 1995 on the challenge and opportunity of wolf recovery. I said it looks like they’re recovering and we better brace for the fact that they’re going to have to be controlled. And that’s what’s happened. The thing is, it jarred the public. Here the wolf went from being endangered to all of a sudden being hunted. A lot of the public just couldn’t buy this. So we had quite a backlash. We still do.
Compared with Minnesota, western states seem less tolerant of wolves. Why?In Minnesota, our ranchers and farmers have always lived with wolves. They were wiped out of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. So the folks there see [reintroduction] as a real imposition on them.
Do hunting and trapping seasons have any effect on wolf behavior?We don’t have any scientific proof that it does. But if you talk to any wolf biologist, they’ll tell you that’s what happens. Once they start being hunted and trapped, they get a lot warier.
There have been two documented cases now, one in Alaska and one in Canada, of wolves killing people. But look at all the wolves in Minnesota and all through northern Canada and Alaska. Very rarely does anyone ever get killed. We always need to keep that context in mind.
—Greg Breining
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How Much Debt?
For the University of Minnesota Class of 2013:
• 37 percent finished debt free, 6 percentage points below the national average
• Among all Twin Cities campus graduates—those with and those without debt—the per capita average debt was $16,500 after four years
• The rate of default for U alumni is 3 percent, significantly below the national average
• The first-year student retention rate is at about 91 percent, comparable to top-flight private schools. The difference in retention rate between students of color and others is 0.5 percent
From University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler’s testimony to the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. For the full text of his remarks, go to www.umn.edu/president and click on speeches and writing.
The University of Minnesota topped Forbes’s list of most improved schools since 2009 in its America’s Best Colleges rankings, moving up 435 positions to 108th. Calling the U a “rising star,” Forbes attributed the improvement to the production of high-quality gradu-ates who become leaders.
Alumni, That’s Why
All Out Effort
University of Minnesota alumnus Florian Ledermann, No. 61, bursts out of the blocks during the first heat of the age 70-74 men’s 100-meter dash during the Minnesota Senior Games on August 1 at St. Thomas University in St. Paul. Ledermann, 74, placed third and also competed in discus and long jump. The 2015 National Senior Games will be held next June in the Twin Cities. The executive director of the 2015 National Games is alumna Beth Pinkney and the cochairs are alumni Susan Adams Loyd and Dave Mona.
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I can’t see or hear, but thank God I can still drive!”
Social worker and come-dian Merrilyn Belgum (B.A. ’46), who died on May 9 at age 89. At age 60 Belgum retired from her job as assistant pro-fessor in the University of Minnesota’s School of Social Work to launch a career as a comedian.
About Campus
Helping Bring an Old Cemetery to Life
In June, University of Minnesota Associate Professor of Archaeology Katherine Hayes was busy doing research and teaching a field school in archaeological survey methods on New York’s Shelter Island when she found out that the Eastville Community Historical Society needed help.
For years, the Society had worked to preserve and maintain the historic St. David A.M.E. Zion Church Cemetery in nearby Sag Harbor, New York, which was founded in 1857 after local African Americans had built the church. The burial site for African American and Native American members of the congregation, the cemetery is located in
Tweets of Yore
If we had Twitter 100 years ago, what would your Alumni Association have been tweeting? We looked back to the Minnesota Alumni Weekly to see what was trending.
At the 1919 Alumni Day carnival, four young women promoted a swimming match inside a tent. Curious spectators were shown four matches floating in a pan of water. #hardyharhar
Minnesota and Wisconsin football coaches entered into a gentleman’s agreement in 1913 not to use any information during games that was obtained through spying. #winkwink
The Gophers opened their 1914 season with a 27-0 thumping of the Chicago College of Physicians and Surgeons. #call911
Students at the University’s School of Agriculture voted 280 to 117 to ban cigarette smoking on campus in 1919. #backtothefuture
Get the latest from the Alumni Association. Follow us on Twitter@UMNAlumni. E
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one of the oldest multiethnic working-class communities in the nation.
Though the Society had received a site preservation grant from the Archaeological Institute of America in 2013, it was far short of the $8,000 needed to fund a geographic information systems (GIS) mapping and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey that could identify how many people have been buried in the 160-year-old cemetery and where (there are no grave markers). Since Hayes and her students were already using GIS and GPR in their fieldwork, she offered to have her students survey the cemetery free of
charge. Information gleaned from GPR, which works well in cemeteries because it does not disturb the soil, will be used to map the boundaries of the cemetery to protect against residential encroachment.
Gary Cole, whose great-grandmother Rose Johnson is buried in the cemetery, visited the site for the first time after the survey was completed. He told the East Hampton Star he was grateful to the historical society and the University of Minnesota. “As a member of the Johnson family I’m here to thank you on behalf of my family.”
Says Hays, “The experience definitely inspired me and the students to do more proj-ects that help communities, so I’ll be looking for other opportunities.”
—Meleah Maynard
From left: Eastville Community Historical Society historian Kathleen Tucker; Gary Cole; Gloria Primm Brown; ECHS president Eunice Jackie Vaughan; and ECHS director Georgette Grier-Kay.
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Alumni Stories
Gee, What a Funny Job!Larissa Anderson (B.A. ’99, M.A. ’03) has what she considers a dream job. How did this self-described “aimless” former grant writer, waitress, and singer-songwriter end up as senior producer of American Public Media’s nationally popular live radio show Wits?
It all started with the Old English epic poem Beowulf, which she first read in Professor Calvin Kendall’s English class at the University of Minnesota. After two rough years as a freshman and sophomore, Anderson was waiting tables and contem-plating dropping out when she decided to try taking classes one more time. “That English class just lit my mind on fire,” she recalls. “We read Beowulf and I loved it and I thought: ‘That’s it. It’s English.’ I knew I wanted to focus on story making and storytelling.”
After earning her master’s degree in English education and teaching high school English for five years, she left the profession to volunteer at Minneapolis community radio station KFAI.
From there, she got an internship with American RadioWorks, the documen-tary unit of American Public Media, and worked on several mostly newsy shows, including Marketplace Tech Report.
Working closely with Wits host John Moe and others, Anderson susses out smart and funny comedians, actors, and musicians to appear as guests on the show, which is recorded in front of a live audi-ence at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul. Here’s what she had to say to Minnesota about producing Wits.
When you, John Moe, and MPR’s live event coordinator Tony Bol came up with the idea for Wits in 2010, what was your vision? That first year we only did four shows because we were still doing Marketplace Tech Report and making this show in our spare time. We knew we wanted the show to be funny. We started out with writers and Julia Sweeney was our first guest. We also had George Saunders, Susan Orlean, and John Hodgman. And then we expanded out to include actors and comedians and musicians.
What do you look for in a guest? We look for people who will be playful on stage and have fun. We try to really
put a spotlight on people’s talents so we write shows so that everybody on stage shines. And we’re always throwing crazy wrenches around to see what happens. Sometimes we do game shows with comedians versus musicians. We once did a game called Funnier or Poignanter and the comedian told these sad, sad jokes and the musician did the punch line. It was so off the rails, which is almost better a lot of the time.
We want the audience to have fun, too. We used to have only general assign-ment seating and we would encourage people to change seats and make new friends, and they did. We also started the Wits Social Club. People can join and get
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discounts and early access to tickets and invitations to events like Wits Bowling Night. We’ve actually heard from people who say things like, “I just moved here and I didn’t feel like I fit in until I went to Wits.” That’s really meaningful for us to have such a strong connection with the audience.
Music on the show is quite excep-tional too. We have an amazing house band, The Witnesses, and we have a wide range of musical guests. Recently, we had Typhoon. They’re from Portland and it was so great to hear people on Twitter saying things like, “Wow, I’ve never heard of Typhoon but now I’ve been listening them for the last 20 hours.”
Who do you dream of having on the show? We’ve got a wish list, and we like to hear from people about who they would like to see on the show. Amy Poehler is on the list. So is Robin Williams. [This interview was conducted prior to Williams’s death on August 11.] Guests who have been on the show end up being our best ambas-sadors and it seems like word has gotten around that this is a fun show to do.
What next for the show?We became a weekly national public radio show in January 2013 and next year, we’ll do fewer shows in St. Paul and more touring across the country. We’re working to build a national audience as enthusiastic and fun as the audience here.
—Meleah Maynard
To listen to Wits, tune into your local public radio station or visit www.witsradio.org.
Meet the New UMAA Chair
If the Guinness World Records had a category for most conversations with University of Minnesota experts, Jim du Bois (B.A. ’87) would hold the title. du Bois, president and chief executive officer of the Minnesota Broadcasters Asso-ciation, is the voice of Access Minnesota, a weekly in-depth news program broadcast throughout Minnesota. As host, he frequently draws on University of Minnesota faculty experts to help make sense of a wide range of current affairs, from events in the Middle East to tourism. (Access Minnesota is a media partner of Minnesota.)
du Bois brings his boundless knowledge of and passion for the U to his new role as chair of the University of Min-nesota Alumni Association board. He assumed his duties in July, succeeding Susan Adams Loyd (B.A. ’81).
“Ours is a great University, with distinguished alumni from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, all sharing a common experience. As chair, I’ll continue to support the work and evolution of the Alumni Association,” he says.
du Bois enjoys a number of pastimes, including tennis, reading, playing the guitar, resistance training, and restor-ing antique radios. A self-proclaimed “weather nerd,” he monitors the skies in the weather station he set up in the backyard of his Minneapolis home. He is married to Mary du Bois (B.A. ’88).
—Cynthia Scott
du Bois with his backyard weather station
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Alumni Stories
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With this issue we are pleased to introduce a partnership between Min-nesota and Gopher Sports Update, an audio program featuring in-depth coverage of Gopher athletes, coaches, administrators, and alumni. The host is Matt Nelson (B.A. ’09), who graduated from the U with a degree in communications. His cohost is Mike Gallagher.
After Football, His Life’s Mission
Jack Brewer (B.S. ’01, M.Ed. ’02) isn’t likely to surprise you. He’s guar-anteed to surprise you. The founder of The Brewer Group, a successful international business, Brewer has a burning passion for helping eradi-cate global poverty. A former professional football player, he considers the first female president of Malawi, Joyce Banda, a mentor. The first person in his family to go to college, he holds two degrees from the University of Minnesota and a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University.
Brewer talked with Matt Nelson and Mike Gallagher about his vision for his business, his philanthropic work through the Jack Brewer Foun-dation, and finding his purpose in life at age 28. Along the way, he offered his views on whether or not college athletes should be paid, diversity at the University of Minnesota, and other current issues.
Here are some excerpts:
On paying college athletes:If given the choice [again], I would happily take the scholarship, my three meals a day, and my room and board. I would have embraced that because that was my passion and my motivation. But when you force someone into taking a scholarship when they have no intention of going to school or graduating and they’re just there to play football, then you become a detriment to them. Putting a student in a classroom who has no intention of learning helps no one. Wasting resources on students like that doesn’t help anyone. [Student athletes] should have a choice.
On his philosophy of business:The Brewer Group was born and created out of a vision I had that you could make money and also help empower the world. In everything we do we try to keep those principles and dedicate ourselves, our time, our money, our resources into helping serve the world’s poor.
On coming to the University of Minnesota from his native Texas: I felt like I was home. People all around really truly accepted me and I just knew I could grow here. . . . The acceptance, the diversity of the U, the effort that’s put toward equality in the state of Minnesota—that’s been the history for years and years and years, and you know, I lived it. To come to a place where you felt like [skin color] was not even an issue was refreshing.To listen to the full interview, www.GopherSportsUpdate.com.
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Paris by the Glass
At age 14, Preston Mohr (B.A. ’04) fell in love—not puppy love, as it turned out, but the real thing.
His older brother had studied French, so when it came his time to pick a foreign language in school, he chose French, too. “In the textbook, I saw pictures of people sitting in a café with a Perrier,” he recalls, “and thought it was just so sophisticated, so enticing.”
The attraction grew during his time at the Univer-sity of Minnesota. He spent his junior year in Paris studying art history and got hooked on everything French. After he finished his degree the following year—he added a minor in French studies—Mohr went right back to Paris. He spent a year helping teach English in a high school, and when that assignment came to a close he knew he wanted to stay.
Mohr, 33, cobbled together jobs here and there: helping people move, working for a short-term apart-ment rental agency, even babysitting. Meanwhile, he was learning about food and wine and leading culinary classes and tours through local agencies. In 2013, he completed a two-year course and earned a diploma from the Wine and Spirit Education Trust, an international body that certifies educators in the field.
Earlier this year Mohr began offering day tours to the Champagne and Loire Valley wine regions—where his art history background comes in handy—through his own company, Paris by the Glass.
“I knew I wanted to do something in travel and education, to do something that would bring me pleasure, and let me share that pleasure. I followed my dream,” he says.
To learn more about Paris by the Glass, visit www.parisbytheglass.com.
—Dan Carlinsky
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Alumni Profiles
Alden A. AbrahamElizabeth W. AbrahamGregory C. AndersonJuel E. AndersonPenny AndersonMark W. BachmanBarbara L. BauerLester BauerDiane BeckleyJohn T. BeecherLena C. BesteKory G. BigalkRobert A. BlackJohn A. BloomquistLawrence J. BremerGary L. BuckmillerGretchen N. BuckmillerJoseph L. CampanelliSusan M. Campion BloomquistTodd P. CarpenterLouise CarpentierBenjamin CasillasJudson K. ChamplinJames L. ChosyJulianne K. ChosyEdward H. CoeMary M. Conroy BeckmanMarie-Nathalie Contou-CarrereCheryl L. CookeSamuel G. CookeDavid T. CrislipRebecca M. CrislipJean E. DaavettilaCamden L. DabyBarbara J. DanielsEugene C. DankbarSandra R. Dankbar
GOPHERS FOREVER
The Alumni Association welcomes these new life members
Hall of Fame Gophers
As a first year student at the University of Minnesota, 6-foot-7-inch Mike Wherley (B.A. ’95) was thinking about trying out for the basketball team when he happened to see a flyer about Minnesota’s rowing club. He checked it out, and it turns out he was pretty good at it.
How good? In May, the 42-year-old was inducted into the National Rowing Foundation’s Hall of Fame. He was tapped for rowing’s highest honor for his individual accomplishments, which are numer-ous: In addition to competing in two Olympics as a member of the U.S. Olympic Rowing Team, he also won three consecutive world championships in the U.S. Rowing Team’s eight-man boat in 1997, 1998, and 1999. And at age 36, while he was studying economics at Oxford University’s Oriel College, he won the 2008 Boat Race on the Thames River as the oldest rower ever to compete.
Wherley, who graduated from the U with degrees in history and journalism, is currently the president of the Pennsylvania Athletic Club Rowing Associa-tion in Philadelphia, where he lives with his wife, Janet Distel. —M.M.
When Anne Barry (M.P.H. ’86) was inducted into the U.S. Rugby Hall of Fame, she became the first woman ever to receive the honor. She joined her first rugby team, the Twin Cities Amazons, in 1983, and played for the Minnesota Select and Midwest Select teams before retiring in 2001.
A passionate advocate for the sport, Barry has served in a number of roles, including president of the Minnesota Youth Rugby Board and treasurer and president of USA Rugby. She was president of the Minnesota Rugby Union for 22 years and remains a member of the board. Currently, she is the general manager of the Twin Cities Amazons and a member of the governing council for the Women’s Premier League.
Off the field, Barry is known as a dedicated public servant and policy expert. Currently deputy commissioner in the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS), Barry’s long career includes high-level appointments by four different governors, along with years of service as the chief compliance officer for DHS and deputy commissioner in the Minnesota Department of Finance.
An adjunct faculty member at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, she holds a law degree from William Mitchell College of Law. —M.M.
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Marjorie B. DaviesMichael J. DennisCharmaine Pappas DonovanRichard G. DonovanKari L. ErpenbachKaren S. FeldtMarcelo Ferraz de ToledoRichard M. FraserJacque F. FrazziniRonald M. FrazziniCarol A. GarbischMichael W. GarbischJanet J. GaukelL. Thomas GaukelHeidi S. GilbertHoward D. GilbertGregory J. GordonCynthia A. Grass MartinBruce D. GrussingJean C. GrussingAaron M. HageJennifer B. HageLeroy O. HalvorsenMargie E. HalvorsenJames E. HartDennis A. HawkinsonRandi K. HellmanJulie M. HendricksonGayle A. HermanThomas W. HermanGeorge H. Hewell
Sharon M. HogensonKaitlin J. HolmNathan A. HolmJaimie L. HortonShuching J. HuangYean-Ming HuangHolly R. HuberMargaret HuffJia W. HwangChristine M. ImbraDuaine R. JackolaLinda Peterson JacksonShray JainMahesh K. JeerageByron R. JohnsonKeith F. KapphahnLloyd G. KeppleKaren A. KirbyFloyd E. KnightRobyn KorzanColleen C. KrebsRoberta N. LaFleurAnne F. LamblinJeffrey D. LarsenHarold G. LarsonJeffrey A. LarsonRobyn L. LarsonCecelia A. LaurieJason R. LehtinenMartha LeidahlBing LiuJoel J. LukerSusan B. Mahle
William D. ManahanJames W. MarleyRuth A. MarshDeborah J. MartinRonald G. MasanzJoseph MastPatrick A. MazorolDorothy J. Mc BrideJohn M. McCarthyGreg R. MelandMary Hobbs MelandGeorge E. MerinoJoyce M. MerinoKeith A. MeyerKaren A. MinarRhonda A. Schleeter MolAnne T. NehringHeidi L. NeiswenderJoanna C. NelsonThomas E. NelsonKusuma NioVuyisile T. NkomoLinda L. OelfkeRichard H. OelfkePeter J. O’MearaToni M. OsojnickiRonald OstrowRoger W. ParkerKathryn E. PawleyPatricia A. PhelpsAnn S. PhillipsCharles A. Porter
Mary C. PreusKathryn L. PyzdrowskiEmily L. QuePhoebe C. ReinhartGary R. RiesgrafKim M. Wogensen RiesgrafEric T. RolliRussell E. RunckStephanie C. Rutten- RamosJon D. RuzekKaren S. RyanTakanori SagawaKenneth A. SandvikBruce H. SavoyMary A. SchumacherDavid R. ScottKaren R. SeashoreRichard P. SenesePaul J. St. GeorgeJane A. StarrIris C. StaubusKathleen M. SteffensJann M. SteinPaul C. SteinSteven G. SternJohn R. StudinerJing SuiDaren T. SullivanKatherine M. SullivanKatherine T. SutterPatrick J. Taillefer
William A. ThomasStephanie C. Thomes HeinenJudith A. TiedeSo Lian TioFrida TosiTyler W. UelandCarol L. UrnessVanessa HofmannGarrick M. VillaumeNicola VillaumeAlexandra D. VujovichMark G. WarnkenAlma J. WetzkerChristine E. WetzkerGregory M. WeyandtColleen B. WicklundRichard G. WicklundLaura S. WilliamsGloria M. WooDoris A. WoodbridgeGerald D. WoodbridgeMedora WoodsBarbara J. YarussoDavid J. YarussoEric C. YostJoann L. Yost
This list represents new life members who joined from April 1 to June 30.
As a student at the University of Minne-sota, new life member Jason Lehtinen participated in and graduated from the Army ROTC program. Most of his mem-ories relate to his time spent in the halls of the Armory and the lifelong connec-tions he made with fellow cadets.
After college he went on to active duty as an armor and intelligence offi-cer. His degree in international relations helped him tremendously while serving in the Army, as well as on personal trav-els throughout Europe. “My education helped provide some perspective on how others viewed the world, which proved helpful when working on several diverse multinational teams.”
An active volunteer with the Kansas City alumni chapter for several years, Lehtinen initially got involved to meet people in his new city who shared a common geographical and education experience. He’s continued volunteer-ing so he can return the favor to new Kansas City area Gopher grads. His connections to the University through fellow cadets and alumni volunteering have resulted in ongoing professional and networking opportunities.
Lehtinen oversees investments in private equity and provides strategic consulting services at Mariner Hold-ings, a fast growing wealth manage-ment firm in suburban Kansas City.
LIFE SPOTLIGHT Jason Lehtinen (B.A. ’94)
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Greek RevivalFraternity and sorority involvement can help students thrive, particularly students of color. A new initiative is aimed at boosting Greek organizations on campus.
Fata Acquoi and Colleen Enwesi, members of Zeta Phi Beta sorority
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By Andy SteinerPhotos by Sara Rubinstein
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anita Brown Young became a member of Delta Sigma Beta, a historically African American sorority, when she was an undergraduate at Kent State University. Years later, she’s reminded of her member-
ship nearly every time she’s in an airport. “When I’m on vacation and I’m walking to
a catch my plane wearing a shirt that indicates I’m a Delta”—she snaps her fingers—“instantly people will spot me and say, ‘Hey, soror.’” Young, the University of Minnesota’s vice provost for student affairs, smiles, explaining the shorthand expression for
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sorority sister. “It’s a great feeling to know that no matter where I go, I can connect with somebody who has taken the same oath I have, somebody who has the same ideals as I do. It’s like I have family everywhere.”
That deep, lifelong connection was one of the central reasons Young joined Delta—and it is one of the reasons her office is leading an initiative to strengthen Greek life on campus. “Mem-bership in fraternities and sororities—particularly multicultural organizations—really helps with recruitment and retention for all students,” Young explains. And in a majority-white institution like the U, Young says traditionally African American, or National
THE GREEK INITIATIVE The initiative to strengthen Greek life on campus began in 2012, when University President Eric Kaler (Ph.D. ’82) called for developing a “sustainable and robust relationship between the University and the Greek community.” He appointed a Greek Community Strategic Task force cochaired by alumnus Fred Friswold (B.S.B. ’58) and former Vice Provost for Student Affairs Jerry Rinehart. The task force released an exhaustive report in 2013 with a number of recommendations related to students, alumni, and housing. The report notes that the undergraduate Greek community is the largest organized student cohort on campus,
with approximately 1,800 members, many of whom assume leadership and service positions throughout their college careers and beyond. “Investing in this community is a sure strategy for enhancing the undergraduate living and learning experience at the University,” it says.
On the heels of the report, the University committed $6 million to a chapter house renovation loan program; opened the 17th Avenue Residence Hall, which houses two chapters and a Greek Life Learning Community; and committed additional funding over three years to support new Greek initiatives.
Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), and Multicultural Greek Council (MGC) groups like Delta Sigma Beta, become a home away from home: a support network that helps young students of color, many of whom are the first in their families to attend college, navigate the uncharted waters of campus life.
Last year, when Mia McCurdy was hired as coordinator in the Office for Fraternity and Sorority Life, it became clear to her that NPHC and MGC groups needed her attention. Even though the oldest of these groups, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., has had a presence on campus for more than 100 years, most traditionally African American and multicultural fraternities and sororities have been at the U for less than three decades, and their mem-bership numbers are low. According to the Office of Institutional Research, 133 University students are active members of MGC and NPHC organizations, compared to 2,500 students who are active members of Pan-Hellenic (PHC) or Interfraternity Coun-cil organizations.
Like graduates of PHC or IFC groups, alumni members of traditionally black or multicultural organizations tend to have a strong bond with their schools. McCurdy notes that membership in such groups leads to a lasting connection to the University. Plus, members of frats and sororities are more likely to come back to alumni events—and more likely to donate to the University.
Anthony Shields (B.A.’14) didn’t join a fraternity until his junior year, but when he did, the experience changed his life. “For years, I was actually against Greek life, against fraternity life in general,” Shields admits. “It had a negative stigma. I felt it was toolish.” But when he learned more about the proud history
Anthony Shields talks with a couple of his Alpha Phi Alpha brothers
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of Alpha Phi Alpha, the University’s oldest NPHC fraternity, he began to see the organization in a different light.
“I began to understand why people joined groups like this,” Shields says. “As a mixed-race person, I’ve struggled with trying to associate myself with my white or black side. My father wasn’t a really strong presence in my life. I saw that there are strong black men in this brotherhood, men I want to have in my life. ”
Though the U’s Alpha Mu chapter is small—there were just two active members when Shields joined—support from the fraternity’s alumni chapter is strong. Shields believes that join-ing this brotherhood, with its rich history of social activism and individual support, helped him complete his degree and chart the course for a career in education. He felt like he’d joined a family, one that expected him to be his very best. “There were moments in my undergraduate career when I felt so isolated,” Shields recalls. But being a fraternity brother put that to rest.
It would be hard to find more enthusiastic sorority sisters than Fata Acquoi and Colleen Enwesi, members of Zeta Phi Beta, a traditionally African American sorority that came back to campus in 2011 after a decade-long hiatus.
Zeta, a member of the Divine Nine—historically black Greek-letter organizations founded between 1906 and 1963—has seen a bit of a resurgence, thanks to the efforts of their committed local alumni chapter and undergraduate members like Enwesi and Acquoi, who joined this spring, taking on the duties of treasurer (Enwesi) and vice president (Acquoi).
Above left: Colleen Enwesi, left, and Fata Acquoi
Above right: Acquoi and Enwesi sport their Zeta Phi Beta jackets.
CALLING ALL GREEK ALUMNIIt’s going to be a big party, and it should be: It’s been 140 years in the making.
“In the 140 years of Greek history at the University of Minnesota, there has been no specific attempt to reach out to Greek alumni,” says Fred Friswold, (B.S.B. ’58), Greek Community Strategic Task Force cochair and a proud Theta Chi.
That changed in 2012, when University President Eric Kaler (Ph.D. ’82), inspired by research showing the positive influence Greek organizations have on the higher education institutions that host them, launched an
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initiative to strengthen fraternity and sorority life at the U. He reached out to influential Greek alumni, including Friswold.
Friswold was instrumental in establishing the Greek Alumni Council (GAC) , which is sponsoring Forever Greek, the first-ever Greek Alumni Homecoming event. It will take place at 7 p.m. October 17 at McNamara Alumni Center. Organizers are expecting some 1,000 Greek grads to gather for food, drinks, live music, and dancing. It’s a big event with many moving parts: Over 100 volunteers are already hard at work.
“We hope to bring Greek alumni back to campus,” Fris-wold says. “We want to reac-quaint them with one another and reflect on the value they have accumulated over their years of being associated with the Greek system.”
GAC member Marnie Holman (B.A. ’68) is a key organizer for Forever Greek. She thinks the event will help raise awareness of the posi-tive influence that fraternities and sororities hold, for both alumni and new students.
“I’m hoping this event gives alumni who haven’t felt connected with the University an opportunity to come back and reconnect,” Holman says.
“The University is a big place. My sorority was where I could have a sense of belonging. I’d like to pass that feeling on to other students.”
Though the University’s Greek community is the largest student group on campus, it still represents only a small percentage of the overall student population, says GAC member Tish Reynolds (B.A. ’76). She and her fellow council members would like to change that.
“Only 6 percent of students at the U of M are part of the Greek system,” Reynolds says. “That’s half or a third of what it really should be, based on the size of the
University. We see this party as one opportunity to expand those numbers.”
Friswold points out that the increased emphasis on Greek life has already had a positive impact at the University. “We’ve already increased the undergraduate Greek population on campus in the two and a half years since we started on this project,” he says. “The Greek community is a vibrant and growing group.” Forever Greek, and all the excitement that surrounds it, he says, will only increase the momentum.
Register for Forever Greek at www.MinnesotaAlumni.org/ForeverGreek. — A.S.
“The support our alumni showed us was amazing. They came back to the undergraduate chapter meetings. They were here for us in every possible way.”—Abiola Abu-Bakr
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“I was looking for a sisterhood of support, a group of people who have similar values as I do,” says Acquoi, who was born in Liberia and came to Minnesota when she was 8. She learned about Zeta when she came to campus for the Multicultural Kickoff, held every fall. She considered membership and even talked about it with her good friend and roommate Enwesi, but didn’t join until the spring of her sophomore year. Now she’s glad she did. “It’s the greatest thing,” she enthuses. “Once you join the organization, there is so much support.”
For Acquoi, support came in the form of financial assistance this spring, when she realized she needed nearly $3,000 in tuition fees to register for classes.
“I only had about $100,” Acquoi says. “When I realized I couldn’t pay my tuition, I put a call out to my sisters and they ral-lied, helping collect the money I needed. In less than 24 hours, I had thousands of dollars, everything I needed to pay my tuition.”
Enwesi, who loaned Acquoi more than $800, says this out-pouring was a clear example of the strong sorority family that she and her friend had joined. “It was an actual sisterhood bond,” Enwesi says. “I knew I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if Fata hadn’t been able to pay her tuition. I would’ve broken down. When I heard her predicament, I said, ‘No. Not today. We’re going to find that money for you.’ As a family, it is our responsibil-ity to help you finish your education.”
“They wanted the best for me,” Acquoi says. “I cried.”Earl Wilson, president of Sigma Beta Rho, an MGC frater-
nity that has held colony status—given to new organizations that have low numbers—for one year, says he was attracted to his fraternity because of its diverse membership. Sig Rho was founded in 1996 at the University of Pennsylvania. One of the founder’s goals was to promote South Asian culture, but the University of Minnesota group’s membership is culturally
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membership sagged to just two. The nursing major knew she couldn’t run a chapter by herself, and so she sent a call out to her alumni sisters.
“When it became clear that we were going to have to bring in new members soon, we were seriously wondering what we were going to do,” she says. When she talks about what happened next, Abu-Bakr tears up: “The support our alumni showed us was amazing. They came back into the undergradu-ate chapter meetings. At Multicultural Kickoff, myself and about five alumni sisters did a step routine. They were here for us in every way possible.” By spring, membership in the orga-nization had increased to five.
This past year, Young hosted a dinner for members of all tra-ditionally African American and multicultural fraternities and sororities. “It was a good way for me to meet them all individually and for them to meet me and to know about each other’s stories,” she says. “What I wanted to know was, what was their experience like? What’s been going on? Where have we fallen short? How can we help them more? I let them know that they are important to the University, that we are pulling for them, and that we are there to support them and help them grow.”
Andy Steiner is a writer and editor living in St. Paul.
diverse, according to Wilson, who is white. “Out of our 15 student members and gradu-ate members, we represent 9 or 10 different ethnicities.”
Wilson graduated from St. Paul’s Como High School and was looking for a fraternity that represented a cross sec-tion of world culture. “My high school was really diverse,” Wilson explains. “That’s the environment I am most com-fortable in. For me, being active in my fraternity is a way to meet new people and make friends, to learn about differ-ent cultures. Through Sigma Beta Rho, I’m learning to work with people from around the world, learning to overcome cultural and language barri-ers.” In the future, he believes this experience will help him navigate an increasingly mul-ticultural world.
The flip side of NPHC and MGC groups receiving more institutional support is the high expectations Young has of them to grow membership. Student organizations must
have a minimum of five members to be recognized by the Uni-versity. Young has given groups with dwindling membership like Alpha Phi Alpha a clear deadline.
“I have told them that they have until next year to get five members,” Young says firmly, adding that MPHC groups have historically shied away from Rush Week or traditional recruitment tactics, instead relying on word of mouth or family connections. “When I got here, some of the MGC and NPHC organizations were way too small to properly conduct business. I’m telling them it is detrimental to them personally to have such small chapters. It’s a lot of work to run a chapter of two people. Most groups will be easily able to get to five members or more. They need to up their game if they want to survive here.”
Abiola Abu-Bakr, vice president of finance for Sigma Lamb-da Gamma, a Latina-founded MGC sorority that has been on campus since 2000, struggled last year when her sorority’s
Left to right: Sigma Beta Rho brothers Sudeepto Gangopadhyay, Zaki Khan, Earl Wilson, Ahmed Elhadidi, and Brian Niaz
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The question “what is food?” might garner a handful of different responses when asked of a few dozen students in a semi-nar. But when Jason Hill asked that ques-tion in an online course he was teaching, thousands answered.
Hill, a University of Minnesota profes-sor of bioproducts and biosystems engineering, posed the question in a massive open online course (MOOC), a free, not-for-credit course available to anyone with an Internet connection. Hill’s MOOC on food sustainability, which he taught in spring 2013, drew nearly 30,000 students from 137 countries worldwide.
Online education has been around for a long time, but free classes on a massive scale exploded onto the higher education scene in 2012 with the development of MOOC providers such as edX and Coursera. These software platforms host MOOCs created by universities and allow for huge enrollments without straining the servers of each individual institution. Coursera, for instance, part-ners with 110 institutions, including the University of Minnesota, which began offering MOOCs in early 2013 as part of its strategic efforts to improve teaching and learning through technology.
The New York Times declared 2012 the “Year of the MOOC,” calling them the “revolution that has higher education gasping.” MOOCs were expected to address two long-standing issues: cost and access for the underserved. “MOOCs were proclaimed as the game changer for higher education,” says Christopher Cramer,
Free for the
TakingMassive open online courses—MOOCs—were heralded as a revolution in higher education. That hasn’t been the case yet, but what the University of Minnesota has learned so far could help revolutionize MOOCs.
By Marla Holt • Illustration by Tomasz Walenta
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a University of Minnesota chemistry professor and associate dean for aca-demic affairs in the College of Science and Engineering who taught one of the U’s pilot MOOCs.
But the revolution hasn’t happened. Critics have expressed dismay with the low number of students who com-plete the courses, as well as MOOCs’ inability to effectively engage a diverse group of students. A recent study by Harvard and MIT found that 5 percent of the people registered for the first 17 courses offered through edX earned a certificate of completion and only about 3 percent of total par-ticipants were from underserved areas. The study also showed that 66 percent of all participants, and 74 percent of those who completed a course, held a bachelor’s degree or higher. Already, one provider, Udacity, has begun moving away from courses in traditional academic disciplines toward those focused more on professional development.
And yet MOOCs have proven to be promising for the U, says University Provost Karen Hanson (B.A. ’70). “Our partnership with Coursera provides us with the opportunity to explore innovative teaching methods, to bring education to people worldwide, and to share the expertise of Minnesota’s faculty members,” she explains. “We maintain control of our intellec-tual property and use the materials we create and lessons we learn through teaching MOOCs in our traditional classrooms.” Additionally, Hanson says the U’s engagement with MOOCs has
“sparked lively discussions about peda-gogy and what works and what doesn’t.”
Cramer, for example, has twice taught statistical molecular thermodynamics as a MOOC, with 700 students complet-ing the course the first time around. For its second iteration, he coordinated its launch with his spring 2014 course so that University students could use the MOOC’s content as an added resource.
A MOOC’s content generally is pre-sented in video format, most often as a short lecture or presentation from instructors. The courses may include
online discussion forums, readings and other assignments, and exams. Instructors provide feedback electronically. If a student completes the course, he or she receives a certificate of accom-plishment signed by the professor. For a small fee, students can establish a “keystroke signature” that proves their identity and enables some level of proctoring to reduce cheating on exams and assignments. Those students can earn a verified certificate that is endorsed by the University.
Hill’s MOOC, called Sustainability of Food Systems: A Global Life Cycle Perspective, was among the first batch of MOOCs devel-oped by the University. To create content, Hill invited numerous colleagues to participate in videotaped discussions organized around 15 questions that consider the global food supply chain and its economic, environmental, and social consequences. Students interacted in forum discussions, read case studies, and completed assignments related to the same questions.
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A MOOC Sampler
Visit www.coursera.org to learn more about or enroll in the 12 MOOCs currently taught by University of Minnesota professors. In addition to the courses offered by Konstan, Hill, and Cramer, options include Creative Problem Solving, Fundamentals of Fluid Power, and Social Epidemiology.
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Nearly 30,000 students signed up, including people with graduate degrees in food science, people working in politics and at federal agencies, and people whose only association with food is that they eat it. About 16,000 of those who signed up participated in some aspect of the course and 1,500 earned a certificate of completion.
Hill estimates he spent about 350 hours creating and teaching the course, but he says it was well worth the effort to interact with a global community of learners. “I’ve got a better pulse on how people the world over feel about these issues, and that in turn has helped me to be a better teacher and researcher,” he says. “I incorporate the materials and the global perspective I learned from the MOOC community into my classes at the U. Hopefully the course helps the University gain wider visibility because people will see that we do good work in fields related to food.”
Joseph Konstan, a professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, taught Introduction to Recommender Systems concurrently as a MOOC and an innovative hybrid graduate-level course. The University students enrolled in the for-credit course received lectures, assignments, and exams online via the MOOC with the added benefit of face-to-face interaction with instructors. Question-and-answer sessions offered in-person for the credited course were videotaped and posted online for MOOC students to view.
Konstan and a colleague measured student learning by administering pre-and post-completion surveys and knowl-
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edge tests. They found that students retained a significant amount of content and could answer challenging questions several months after completion. This was true both for students who were fully online and those who enrolled in the hybrid version, regardless of gender, age, and other factors.
“We also learned that class content delivered online is a pretty useful format for on-campus students,” Konstan says. “It offers flexibility that students like and is very helpful for students whose first language isn’t English.”
Nevertheless, Konstan says, it would be a mistake to assume that MOOCs alone are a replacement for enrollment in a qual-ity undergraduate or graduate program. “On-campus learning provides much more interaction and personal feedback than is possible in a MOOC,” he says. “Laboratory and project-based courses provide an intensive level of support that allow students to personalize their learning.”
The University will continue to encourage professors who are interested in offering MOOCs to do so, Hanson says. “Right now it’s a coalition of the willing. Our faculty members are engaged in research and move with the cutting edge of their fields. This is just another teaching space for professors to explore if they are interested in it.”
Just as importantly, it’s a way for more people the world over to benefit from the teaching available at the University of Minnesota. n
3 2 Fa l l 2 0 1 4 M I N N E S O TA
IT’S A FA ILY THING
The University of Minnesota runs deep in these four families with multiple generations of alumni. For them, the U is more than an institution of higher education. It’s home.
The Mooty/Glaser family
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IT’S A FA ILY THING
The University of Minnesota runs deep in these four families with multiple generations of alumni. For them, the U is more than an institution of higher education. It’s home.
3 4 Fa l l 2 0 1 4 M I N N E S O TA
AT LAST COUNT, members of the Mooty/Glaser family have earned more than 30 degrees from the University of Minnesota stretching back four generations. But that only begins to tell the story of their rootedness in the University. Four members of the combined families have served as national presidents of the Alumni Association: Ken Glaser (B.S. ’42) and his son, Chip Glaser (B.S.B. ’75), as well as John Mooty (B.S.L. ’43, J.D. ’44) and his son Bruce (B.A. ’77, J.D. ’80). Jane Glaser Mooty (B.A. ’43) and another of John’s sons, Chuck Mooty (B.S.B. ’83, M.B.A.
’84), have served on the University of Minnesota Foundation board, with Chuck serving a term as president.
Stewardship is a way of the life for the Mooty/Glasers. The family’s con-tributions to the U have been so many, so varied, and from so many sources that it is hard to keep track without a scorecard and Venn diagrams. “The fact that our connection goes back four generations is a big part of why we’re actively involved with the Uni-versity,” Chip explains. “I remember seeing my father [Ken Glaser] take an active role in the Alumni Association, and we always had season tickets to
football and basketball, so the University made an impression on me when I was young and I passed that on my kids.”
Chip, from his home in Scottsdale, Arizona, and John, in Rio Verde, Arizona, have organized ongoing events to help fund aspects of athletics programs at the U—every fall, thou-sands of Gopher fans stream through one of the gates at TCF Bank Stadium that is named for the family. Chip currently serves on the Carlson School of Management Board of Over-seers, and his five children—Keri (B.A. ’00), Lindsay (B.A. ’02), Jonathan (B.S. ’04), Stacy (B.A. ’07), and K.C. (B.S.B. ’07), are alumni; attorneys John and Bruce have been instrumental in raising funds for the Law School capital campaign; the Glasers have provided similar support to the Carlson School; and together the Mooty/Glaser families, from all generations, have given generous financial contributions to the University, as well as helped in its fundraising activities for scholarships and programs too numerous to name.
In honor of their lasting commitment and generosity, the family will serve as grand marshals of the Homecoming parade on October 17. “We’re very honored and humbled to be asked to do this,” says Chip, whose son K.C. was Home-coming king in 2004 and is currently pursuing his M.B.A. at the Carlson School. “We clearly think that the University of Minnesota has done significantly more for our family than we have done for the University, so to be able to be a part of Homecoming is really cool. We’re going to have as many fam-ily members in the parade as we can.”
Though the Mooty/Glaser association with the University
goes way back, its beginning is easy to pinpoint. Dr. Harry Nel-son, a graduate of the School of Dentistry in the early part of the last century, was the first member of the extended family to earn a degree at the University. His daughters, Virginia Mae (“Ginny”) and Jane attended the U in the 1940’s, where they met and married, respectively, John Mooty and Ken Glaser.
Aside from being brothers-in-law, John and Ken were business associates. After graduating from the Law School in 1944, John practiced law in Minneapolis. At 92, every Friday he still goes into Gray Plant Mooty, the firm where he became a partner in 1954. The oldest law firm in Minnesota, it also has the distinction of employing four past presidents of the Alumni Association, including Bruce and John Mooty;Franklin Gray (B.A. ’25); and Bob Stein (B.A. ’60, J.D. ’61).
Ken Glaser was a Minneapolis business leader who owned the regional franchise for National Car Rental. In 1959, National was having financial trouble and higher-ups in the New York corporate office asked him for help. He agreed, calling on his brother-in-law Mooty for assistance, and together they were successful in reinvigorating the business. The two joined forces again about 10 years later to breathe life into the International Dairy Queen chain. Their suc-
WHEN FARIBAULT WOOLEN MILL shut its doors in 2009, its future was bleak, particularly after its historic plant on the Cannon River flooded a year later. For five generations—150 years—the mill had provided woolen products to the state and nation. Skilled craftspeople from Faribault, 50 miles south of the Twin Cities, had worked the plant through the highs and lows of an industry that had dropped from 800 mills nationwide in the 1880s to 80 by 1920. Through the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s, the Faribault Woolen Mill produced half the wool blankets in the United States. The trouble was, woolen blankets were just not as popular as they once were. When the mill’s doors shut, it looked as if they’d shut for good.
But in 2011, cousins Paul and Chuck Mooty partnered together to resurrect the brand and the mill. After long and successful business careers, each was looking for new challenges, and the prospect of getting involved in an interesting and historically important Min-nesota venture was too tempting to pass up.
A Regeneration
THE MOOTY/GLASER FAMILY
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Previous page, seated, left to right: KC Glaser, Jeanne Mooty, David Mooty, Jane Glaser Mooty, John Mooty, Paige Mooty, Kai Gustafson, Kimara Mooty, and Eric Gustafson. Standing, left to right: Stacy Glaser, Gina Rutter, Jonathan Glaser, Chip Glaser, Lindsay Payne, Brianna Mooty, Bruce Mooty, John Mooty, Will Mooty, Chuck Mooty, and Barbara Glaser
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With financing from other members of the family, the Faribault Woolen Mill is once again up and running, with Chuck’s 25-year-old son John (M.B.A. ’14) as its creative director.
John had no prior ties to the business, or even to Faribault, but he does have
a love for great Minnesota companies and an interest in figuring out how to do justice to a business that has such sig-nificance for the area and the state. John’s pride in the mill is obvious as he gives a tour that begins on the lowest level, where laundry carts filled with lumpy,
white-gray wool are brought in from a loading dock and dropped into dyeing vats. As the dyed wool wends its way up from floor to floor through the inner chambers of the mill it is dried, combed out, and wound into giant, colorful skeins. Individual skeins are woven together in brilliant patterns and transformed into beautiful blankets, throws, scarves, and hats. Shipped all over the country, prod-ucts from the new Faribault Woolen Mill have been lauded by the likes of Martha Stewart, GQ, CBS, and NBC.
A whole host of products lines shelves and tables in the mill’s on-site shop. And, not surprisingly, the first blanket that catches the eye is maroon and gold and proudly highlights the U of M logo. Though his M.B.A. could have taken him in a lot of different directions, John says reviving the mill has so far been “a great adventure.” In fact, he says, “it feels like working for a 150-year-old start-up.” —T.B.
cessful efforts led to the sale of Dairy Queen to Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway group.
Back on the home front, John and Ginny Mooty had three boys: David (J.D. ’78), Chuck, and Bruce. Ken and Jane Glaser had a boy and a girl: Ken “Chip,” and Barbara (B.A. ’73, M.A. ’75). Tragically, both Ginny and Ken died young, Ginny in 1964 and Ken in 1970. In 1972, former in-laws John Mooty and Jane Glaser married, tightening further an already tight clan—first cousins became stepsiblings, and an aunt and an uncle became a stepmom and stepdad.
John was the first member of his side of the family to gradu-ate from the University. He grew up in tiny Adrian, Minnesota, the son of a banker whose business closed when the market crashed in 1929. The Mootys didn’t have much, but John and his brother Melvin (B.S.L. ’50, J.D. ’51) worked paper routes to earn cash. John learned a lesson about the value of money during the Depression: Sent to the store with a dime to buy meat for the family’s dinner, he lost the dime—and the family went without food for the day. He says he has never forgotten the lesson.
First in his class in 1944 and editor of the Law School’s Min-nesota Law Review, John has a clear recollection of when his devotion to the University began.
One Saturday afternoon in October 1934, the Mooty family found itself glued to the kitchen radio, listening to Bernie Bierman’s Gophers. The University of Minnesota was challenging for its first national championship that year and playing the best team from the east, the University of Pittsburgh. Everyone in the country was listening to the game, and the Gophers were down 7–0 at halftime. They quickly came back to tie the score in the second half, but with just five minutes left, a Gopher drive stalled on the Pittsburgh 24 yard line. On fourth-and-two, quarterback Glenn Seidel (B.M.E. ’36) took the snap from center, pitched the ball to halfback Francis “Pug” Lund, who passed to end Bob Tenner (M.D. ’37). Touchdown Gophers! They were on their way to their first national championship. “Boy, we were excited,” John recalls. “Long before we got to the University, we were totally committed to the Gopher football team.”
John’s son Bruce has been a partner at Gray Plant Mooty since the 1980s. Like his father, Bruce’s earliest memories of the University also revolve around athletics. Longtime baseball coach Dick Siebert was a neighbor of the Mooty family in Min-neapolis. Bruce remembers Siebert bringing broken bats home from Gopher practices and putting them on the side of his house.
John Mooty on the floor of the Faribault Woolen Mill
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WHEN RACHEL LEONARD LEFT HER SMALL southern Minnesota hometown to work her way through college, she didn’t set out to create a three-generation legacy. But that’s exactly what happened.
Leonard (A.A. ’53, B.A. ’55, B.S. ’57, M.A. ’63) first earned an associate’s and then two bachelor’s degrees in political science, history, and education at the University. While working in the schools, she completed two advanced degrees, in education administration and educational psychology. Ultimately, all of her children and five grandchildren followed in her footsteps.
“I think the University gave me a chance to help myself, and my kids saw that, too,” says Leonard, who became a widow when her youngest son, Todd, was 2. “It also taught me about lifelong learn-ing, justice, and applying it to the everyday things around you.”
Leonard has followed those principles throughout her life. She spent 30 years as a teacher, school counselor, and principal in Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools, earned a law degree in her 50s from William Mitchell College of Law, obtained a pilot’s license, and volunteered for countless causes.
“We’d take them and put nails in the breaks, and then wind tape around the handles. It added a few ounces to the bats but we loved to play baseball and they got a lot of use,” he says.
Bruce and Chip fondly remember attend-ing Gopher football games as an extended fam-ily because both sets of grandparents had season tickets. “My grandmother would pack roast beef sandwiches and hot chocolate and we’d sit way up in the nosebleed section and watch the game,” Bruce recalls.
Chip, whose parents’ seats were on the 50-yard line under the press box, annually renews his eight Gopher season tickets, four for football and four for basketball, because he loves carrying on the tradition of going to games as a family. He often finds, though, that he has more takers than tickets. “It’s a battle royal for tickets because I’ve got five kids and they have kids and they all enjoy going to games. It’s really fun to see their continued passion for the University.”
Chip’s children also possess the exact bench, with the row and seat numbers emblazoned on it, that the family sat on way back then because Chip purchased it when Memorial Stadium was torn down.
While details of this year’s Homecoming parade and festivities are still being worked out, including just how many family members will be participating, it is certain that there will be enough Mooty/Glasers to fill a float. “They had originally talked about using cars, but I think the latest thinking is that we’ll need some sort of big flatbed truck to hold everyone,” Bruce says, adding that for him, the honor of being grand marshal is about the service that his parents have given to the University. “The University of Minnesota has made a wonderful choice by honor-ing my parents.”
—Tim Brady
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THE LEONARD FAMILY
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Ginny Nelson Mooty (in white scarf) cheers on the Gophers in 1960. She was married to John Mooty until her death in 1964. Her sister Jane Nelson Glaser married John in 1972, two years after the death of her husband Ken Glaser.
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attend the U until she was put on the wait list. When she eventually got in, she made the most of it, soaking up as much as she could about mass com-munication, management, and design before landing a job as an account executive at a Minneapolis advertising agency.
“The U is a connection for all of us,” Alex says. “We’re all proud we went there, and it’s a fun thread we share.”
Rachel’s ethic of giving has stayed with her children, especial-ly her commitment to public service. Todd, a family physician, started a company that provides medical care to inmates. Eric has been a Ramsey County criminal prosecutor for the past 17 years.
From serving his community to becoming a leader, Eric says he gained more than a stellar education when he earned a bach-elor’s degree in business and a Juris Doctor from the U. “It’s a place that teaches the idea of self-reliance and working hard,” he adds. “It’s our home-state school, and it’s had such an influence on so many members of my family. It becomes more than just a school. It becomes part of your community.”
—Suzy Frisch
As an attorney—at age 81, she still practices—Leonard focuses on helping ordinary people with their legal issues, often through house calls. And she also applies her legal skills as a four-term Sherburne County commissioner. Her current term is up in 2016. Though she’s not one to boast of her accomplishments, Leonard can’t help herself when it comes to her family: children Pam (B.A. ’74, M.D. ’84, M.P.H. ’91), Eric (B.S. ’85, J.D. ’90), Todd (M.D. ’96, UMD), daughter-in-law Jill (Jansen) Leonard (B.S. ’88), who is married to Eric, and grandchildren Alexandra (B.A. ’10), Kyle, and Mitchell Leonard and David (B.A. ’11, UMD) and Katie Cowardin (B.A. ’08). Kyle is a senior and Mitchell a freshman at the U.
Going to Minnesota was a no-brainer for Pam. Throughout her life, she saw her mom’s pride in being an alumna. “We grew up understanding what it meant for her and how many doors it opened,” says Pam, a retired internist and three-time mystery novelist. “As a family we were raised with that mindset and felt a strong allegiance to the U of M.”
Third-generation alumna Alex, who majored in strategic communications, didn’t realize how much she wanted to
Left to right, Eric, Jill, Alex, Kyle, Todd, Rachel, and Mitchell
Leonard, David Cowardin, and Pam and Katie Leonard
3 8 Fa l l 2 0 1 4 M I N N E S O TA
WHEN MAXX WILLIAMS GETS UP EARLY for football practice, or when he’s giving it his all at two-a-day practices, he thinks about his grandfather, father, and uncle going through the same experiences as Gophers. His grandfather, Ron Goetz Sr., was a Gopher for one year. His dad Brian was a Gopher from 1984 to 1988 before being drafted in the first round by the New York Giants, helping the team clinch a Super Bowl victory in 1990. His uncle, Ron Goetz Jr., played for the Gophers in the late 1980s. “That’s a big reason I came here—because my family played here and I’m keeping the memories going,” says Williams, a red-shirt sophomore tight end. “It’s cool to think they did all the same things I’m doing, too.”
But Williams’s Gopher roots go beyond football. His mother, Rochele Williams (B.A. ’88), was a standout volleyball player who earned the prestigious Big Ten Medal of Honor in 1988 for achievement in academics and sports.
For Rochele, who grew up in Waconia, Minnesota, there was nowhere else she’d rather go than the U, even though other schools came calling. Getting an excellent education and playing for the hometown team in front of family and friends meant a great deal to her. “Being an athlete has its ups and downs, but that’s where you learn to be a better student and learn that everything is not going to go right. You keep
going and fight hard,” she says. “When you love a sport like that, to play at that level is such a thrill.”
Brian grew up in Pittsburgh, the son of a Notre Dame All-Star quarterback, and he considered several other schools before visiting Minnesota. He fell in love with campus and the coaching staff, prompting him to cancel the rest of his recruiting trips. Brian studied child psychology and mainly played center at the U.
“Playing here was one of the best experiences of my life. I made some lifelong friends, and by playing for Minnesota and in the Big Ten I got to play in the NFL,” Brian says. “I owe that all to the coaching staff at Minnesota.”
This fall, Maxx’s sister Danielle will join him on campus as a graduate student. The two are very close and will live together while she pursues a master’s degree in kinesiology and Maxx works on his bachelor’s in communications studies.
Rochele and Brian travel to Maxx’s away games and the family takes a busload of family and friends to each home game. “It’s my hometown and my home state, and repre-senting the Gophers at the University is a cool thing for me,” says Maxx, who intends to pursue the NFL and ultimately a career in sports media. “It’s been awesome—everything I dreamed about.” —S.F.
THE WILLIAMS FAMILY
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Left to right: Brian, Rochele, Danielle,
and Maxx Williams, and Ron Goetz Jr.
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TOMMY OLSON GREW UP OBSESSED with Gopher football. Attending every home game with his family, he spent hours playing football with his brother, Eddie, in their Mahtomedi backyard, which became a field adorned with a University of Minnesota “M,” goalposts, and lights. Their father, Ed Olson Sr., (B.A.S. ’83), played for the Gophers from 1978 to 1982, and Tommy and Ed Jr. yearned to follow in his footsteps.
That’s exactly what both have done. Ed Jr. played on the offensive line for the Gophers from 2010 to 2013, and Tommy is now a senior center. “I take a lot of pride in my career, because I love coming here knowing that my brother and dad came here, and I get to carry the legacy on,” he says.
This season, Tommy will trade in his number 53 for a jersey with number 58, the number both his father and brother wore. Playing alongside his brother, as he did for two seasons, was truly special for Tommy, including finish-
ing out Ed Jr.’s football career together on the field during the Texas Bowl.
Attending the U was an easy decision for Ed Olson Sr., who had several offers from other Big Ten schools. When the Gophers offered him a spot on the roster, he didn’t have to think twice. “It’s a great school and a great education, and then being able to play that level of football close to home and be a part of the collegiate football experience was pretty good,” says Olson, who earned a business degree.
Olson and his wife, Kelly, a University of Minnesota, Dulu-th alumna, were thrilled when both of their sons decided to play for the Gophers. “It was always their thing, to be a Golden Gopher, and staying close to family was important to them,” says Ed Sr. “It’s nice to have that experience and have the legacy continue. It will be sad when it’s all over because it’s been a big part of our lives.” —S. F.
THE OLSON FAMILY
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Left to right: Ed Sr., Tommy, and Ed Olson Jr.
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4 0 Fa l l 2 0 1 4 M I N N E S O TA
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Fa l l 2 0 1 4 M I N N E S O TA 4 1w w w . M i n n e s o t a A l u m n i . o r g
THE HOMECOMING TRADITION began 100 years ago at the University of Minnesota with something closer to a whimper than a bang. Homecomings were becoming a popular means across the nation to get alumni back to the old alma mater, and the U joined the movement. But according to the Alumni Weekly, the first Homecoming at the U “was not an unqualified success from the point of view of the number of alumni who took advantage of the plans made for their entertainment.”
The crowd at a pregame banquet at Shev-lin Hall—the women’s dormitory—drew a fair number of women, but just one man. A noon-time luncheon drew crowds “not larger than usual.” Even the postgame bash with con-cert and dance was rather sparsely attended. The Weekly laid blame on alumni, who, while coming to the game “combine business with pleasure and do not have time for anything besides the game. Or want to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by the Twin Cities.”
World War I prompted a hiatus from the celebration, but in 1919 Homecoming came back with a bang. Decorations draped Greek houses and a parade was instituted. Buttons were worn and a bonfire and pep fest on the evening before the game raised team spirit.
Homecoming themes became a part of the fes-tivities in the 1920s. Vikings animated the first Homecoming celebration in the brand new Memo-
rial Stadium in 1924. A Viking funeral pyre was set ablaze at the campus parade grounds prior to the big game against Michigan, which the Gophers lost 7-6, and Viking floats filled the parade. In 1929, the campus once again honored the state’s Norske roots at Homecoming when the parade featured a fleet of Viking galley ships built by U of M Greek houses.
Celebrations were often elaborate affairs. In 1928, a hodgepodge of Native American motifs ran through Homecoming festivities. Teepees and wig-wams were set up all over the campus with “blan-kets, canoes, tom toms, and campfires,” according to the Gopher Annual, celebrating or muddling a variety of Indian customs and artifacts. A group of Blackfoot Indians imported from Glacier National Park in Montana provided “an unusual note of col-orful realism” throughout the festivities. In 1931, professional cowboys were brought in to perform a Wild West roughriding show, and in 1953 mallard ducks were released during halftime to celebrate Minnesota conservation and sportsmanship.
Kings and queens have long been a part of Home-coming tradition, but just how it’s decided who should wear those crowns has changed over the years. In earlier times, the student body elected queens, and being crowned king was the prerogative
100 YEARS of just about everything
Left: The Alumni Weekly announced the first-ever Homecoming in its October 5, 1914 edition.
Below: Members of the Blackfoot Nation attended the 1928 festivities. They’re pictured with student Marion Clift.
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Delta Tau fraternity decorations in 1946
The queen and her attendants during halftime of the 1938 game
The 1949 parade included a
bebop funeral.
of a particular office: president of the Alumni Asso-ciation. This practice ended in the late 1960s, when Gopher football team captains were given the keys to the kingdom. One of the most famous of these was Tony Dungy (B.S. ’78), who wore the crown in 1976.
Through the decades, Homecoming traditions like the Memorial Union Ball have reflected fashion trends. From early incarnations of berets, goatees, and sunglasses, to the latest in Mad Men style from the early 1960s and post-Beatle haircuts and bellbot-toms, Homecoming has been celebrated in the style of the times.
Sometimes, the times meant drastic changes to traditions. In 1943, war shortages resulted in the elimination of the parade, bonfire, pepfest, and house
decorations. In 1971, the Vietnam War had a signifi-cant impact on celebrations, and when they resumed in 1973 the bonfire was discontinued for environmen-tal reasons. And the selection of queens was halted from 1970 to 1975 on the premise that it was sexist.
These days, the U celebrates Homecoming with a full week of activities—some of them, like the parade, decades old. Other traditions, such as the student lip sync contest, community service, and the blood drive, emerged more recently. But through all the vari-ous incarnations of Homecoming, the one constant remains the Homecoming game—whether played on Northrop Field, Memorial Stadium, the Metro-dome, or TCF Bank Stadium. n
—Tim Brady
“Homecoming is a custom that has become well established. . . and there is every reason to believe that it will prove popular here. Plans are in capable hands and something will be doing.”
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The 1956 bonfire awaits.
1975 Homecoming chairs Dick Devine and Gary Nelson
1975 Homecoming King and Gopher captain Tony Dungy with Queen Ann Gallogly
Alumnus Dave Winfield (in fur coat) and Bob
Hope joined University President Peter McGrath
and Alumni Association President Ron Simon
at halftime in 1980.
“Homecoming is a custom that has become well established. . . and there is every reason to believe that it will prove popular here. Plans are in capable hands and something will be doing.”
Former Gopher All-Americans attended the 1969 pepfest and luncheon. From
left: Shorty Long, George Hanson, Ed Widseth, Bill Nunn, Bert Baston,
Ray King, and Francis (Pug) Lund
A SALUTE TO THE “U”.A SALUTE TO CRAFTSMANSHIP.
AND A SALUTE TO A GREAT FAMILY.
The Faribault Woolen Mill Minnesota wool stadium blanket: Made with care and craft at Minnesota’s oldest manufacturing company. Whether comforting you in the stadium or proudly displayed in the family room, it’s a true keepsake made to last for generations. And on the 100th Anniversary of the U’s Homecoming, it’s also a tribute to the Mooty family, strong supporters of the University and visionaries responsible for bringing the storied Faribault Woolen Mill back to life. To order yours, visit us at
faribaultmill.com
Loomed in the Land of Lakes
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Though its origins predated Homecom-ing, no Gopher gathering is complete without at least one full-throated Ski-U-Mah. But where did the yell come from? According to this excerpt from the November 9, 1914 Alumni Weekly:
THE UNIVERSITY YELL was started in the fall of 1884. It appears that at the time, Professor Peebles, who had the year before come from Princ-eton, and who was coach of the football team, used to divide the boys into two squads; he would coach one squad himself and give the other into the charge of someone else. He usu-ally managed to pick out the strongest team for him-self and taking advantage of his superior knowledge of the game, used to make touchdowns on the other team almost at will. When a touchdown came, Professor Peebles used to give his “Sis-Boom-Ah, Princeton.” The boys finally got tired of this and decided they
would get a yell of their own, and when the occasion came they would get it back on Professor Peebles.
John W. Adams, ’86, who was at that time rooming with “Win” Sargent, set himself to devise a characteristic yell for Minnesota. Naturally the “Rah, Rah, Rah” was the first thing to suggest itself
as being a necessary part of any yell.As something characteristic of Minne-
sota he took the word “Minnesota,” which is Indian for “cloudy water,” cutting out
one syllable, thus “Minn-so-ta.” Then recognizing the necessity of another three syllable part of the yell, three times three, bethought himself of some Indian word that would express exultation, which could be worked into the University yell. The memory of a race between four Indian boys in two canoes, which he had
seen years before near Lake City, came to mind, and he recalled how, as one canoe pulled out ahead and across the finishing line, one Indi-an boy put up his hand yelled “Ski-oo.” Mr. Adams, who had seen a great deal of the Sioux Indians in his younger days, remem-bered, too, that this yell was almost invariably used by the young Indians when winning an athletic con-test of any sort. The Sioux children generally used this exclamation in their play as
an expression of exultation or pleasure.As another syllable was necessary to
make it harmonize with the rest of the yell Mr. Adams simply put in the “Mah”
Members of the Pride of Minnesota prepare to march in 1988
Ski-U-Mah is Born
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in order to go with “Rah” and “ta.” As the yell was first planned, the emphasis was placed on the second syllable of each line. “Rah. RAH. Rah. Ski! OO! Mah! Minn-SO-ta!”
After working out this yell to their own satisfaction, Adams and Sargent could not hold in any longer and they went out on the street to try the new yell. They gave it several times and enjoy the unique distinction of being the first to give voice to the famous “Ski-U-Mah.” As it was late in the evening, one of the neighbors put up the window and invited the boys to “shut up and go to bed.”
The yell was printed for the first time in a University publication in the Ariel in the spring of 1885, soon after it was origi-nated, in the following form:
“Rah. Rah. Rah.Ski-U-Mah.Minn-so-ta!How’s that for a college cry’? It has
not sense but the meter’s immense. We endorse it.”
The “Ski-U-Mah” has been the char-acteristic feature of the Minnesota yell and this is an authentic report of how the yell originated and its meaning.
The return of football to campus in 2009 called for five alumni grand marshals. Three of them—Deb Hopp, Walter Mondale, and Lindsay Whalen—are pictured braving subfreezing temperatures at the pepfest. The other two were Garrison Keillor and Bobby Bell. Left: Even Goldy sought warmth.
Friday, October 17, 2014 • 7PM – 11:30PM McNamara Alumni Center
We’re celebrating 140 years of Greek life on campus with the first ever all Greek party following the Gopher Homecoming Parade.1,000 Greeks in one room? Let the party begin!
www.minnesotaalumni.org/FOREVERGREEK
Don't Miss the PArty 140 yeArs to Plan
tHat took
Alumni HOmEcOminG
Hosted by Minnesota Greek Alumni Council and University of Minnesota Alumni Association
October 13-19GUIDE FOR ALUMNI
This guide is made possible by the members of the
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTAALUMNI ASSOCIATION
MONDAY, OCTOBER 13
Goldy’s Homecoming Kickoff11 a.m. • Coffman Plaza
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14
College of DesignDesign Intersections: Featuring Maurice Blanks of Blu Dot8 a.m. • McNamara Alumni Center$30 by September 30, $40 by noon, October 13, $45 walk-in; $15 students
St. Paul Blood Drive10 a.m.-4 p.m.St. Paul Student Center, Minnesota Commons Room
College of Liberal ArtsCreative Writing Program presents author Stacey D’Erasmo reading from Wonderland7 p.m. • Weisman Art Museum
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15
Minneapolis Blood Drive10 a.m.-4 p.m. • Coffman Memorial Union, Great Hall and Mississippi Room
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16
China CenterReception and Awards Ceremony for Distinguished Chinese Alumni3-5 p.m. Alumni Awards Celebration5:30-8 p.m. • Memorial Hall, McNamara Alumni Center
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17
Homecoming Parade7 p.m. • University Avenue Southeast Family viewing area located on University in the Cooke Hall semicircle between Walnut and Church Streets Southeast.
College of PharmacyBack to School Reunion8 a.m. • Location TBA
College of Veterinary Medicine Class of 1964 Reunion9 a.m. • Ben Pomeroy Student/Alumni Learning Center
International Student and Scholar Services Open House3 p.m. • ISSS Office, 190 Humphrey School
University of Minnesota LibrariesLibrary School reception and tours of the archival caverns4 p.m. • Elmer L. Andersen Library
College of Education and Human Development Alumni Party and Parade4:30 p.m. • Burton Hall Plaza
College of Science and Engineering Homecoming Celebration5 p.m. • University Recreation Wellness Center—North Gym
CELEBRATING 100 YEARS
Enjoy yourself and share the air. No smoking on campus, please!
College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource SciencesBeer & Brats at the Bell5:30 p.m. • Bell Museum of Natural History lawn. At 7 p.m. join us on the fl oat or fi nd us on the lawn.
Carlson School Parade Watch Party6 p.m. • Armory lawn Registration required
Forever Greek Alumni Reunion7 p.m. • McNamara Alumni Center
Mr. Molar, the Tooth Fairy, and the School of Dentistry in the parade 7 p.m. • University Avenue
Orientation and First Year Programs Reunion8:30 p.m. • McNamara Alumni Center
Colleges of Design and Liberal Arts and School of Journalism and Mass Communication Post-Parade Gathering8 p.m. • Commons Hotel
Recreation and Wellness Alumni Parade Party8 p.m. • University Recreation and Wellness Center
VISIT A NEW PERMANENT EXHIBIT CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF HOMECOMING Designed by student leaders from the Student Unions & Activities Program Board, the exhibit illuminates the evolving nature of Homecoming through photographs, buttons, Gopher yearbooks, and more. It’s located in the basement of Coffman Memorial Union and is open during regular hours.
A special Homecoming warrants a special com-memoration. That was the thinking behind this year’s Forever Gold Homecoming t-shirt, designed by Natalie Pechman, a senior graphic design major and student designer for the offi ce of Student Unions and Activities (SUA).
Campus icons and other places that embody the spirit of Homecoming inspire the design, says Nathan Wald-vogel of SUA. “We wanted the shirt to have the same energy as those icons and places. Wearing it is a badge of honor,” he says.
The t-shirt is available at the University of Minnesota Bookstores while supplies last.
#ForeverGold
FRONT
BACK
GET YOUR HOMECOMING T-SHIRT!
Events are free unless otherwise noted. Some require registration and all are subject
to change. For up-to-date details, visit MinnesotaAlumni.org/homecoming
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18
Ski-U-Mania! presented by the Alumni AssociationFood, entertainment, coronation of Homecoming King and Queen8-11 a.m. • McNamara Alumni Center
College of Pharmacy Football Reception8 a.m. • McNamara Alumni Center
College of Liberal Arts at Ski-U-Mania!8 a.m. • McNamara Alumni Center, Ski-U-Mah Room
College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource SciencesHomecoming Tailgate8 a.m.
Homecoming GameGophers v. Purdue11 a.m.
Humphrey School Celebrate the Common Good: A Humphrey School All-Class Reunion5 p.m. • Humphrey School, 301 19th Avenue South, Minneapolis$50-$70
Program of Mortuary Science All-Class Reunion4 p.m. • Historic Thomson-Dougherty house, 2535 Park Avenue South, Minneapolis
School of Music Collage Concert7:30 p.m. • Ted Mann Concert Hall
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19
Norman Borlaug 5KTime TBA • St. Paul campus
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Season Opening: A Grand New Beginning Fri Sep 26 & Sat Sep 27 8pm / Sun Sep 28 2pm
Osmo Vänskä, conductor / Alisa Weilerstein, cello Linh Kauffman, soprano / Adriana Zabala, mezzo Minnesota Chorale
Celebrate rebirth and reunion at Orchestra Hall with Mahler’s monumental Resurrection Symphony and the
Please note: Discount not available for Sep 26 or 27 concerts.
Strauss: Immortal StoriesThu Oct 9 11am / Fri Oct 10 & Sat Oct 11 8pm
Andrew Litton, conductor / Anthony Ross, cello
Don Quixote, Salome’s Dance (Dance of the Seven Veils) Suite from Der Rosenkavalier
Don QuixoteSalome
Strauss: Shadows and LightThu Oct 16 11am / Fri Oct 17 8pm
Osmo Vänskä, conductor and clarinet Andrew Staupe, piano
Suite for Winds, Burleske for Piano and Orchestra Metamorphosen, Death and Transfiguration
Strauss: Musical MountainsFri Oct 24 & Sat Oct 25 8pm
Edo de Waart, conductor
String Sextet from Capriccio Serenade in E-flat major, An Alpine Symphony
LIVE AT ORCHESTRA HALL
Out of this World with Christopher Lloydand the Minnesota OrchestraFri Oct 31 & Sat Nov 1 8pm
Sarah Hicks, conductor / Christopher Lloyd, narrator Film featuring NASA visuals
with memorable movie connections than Back to the Future’s
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Gopher Sports
he story about how Mike Sherels (B.S. ’07, M.Ed. ’14) finally made a move on his future wife, Emily
(B.A. ’08, M.Ed. ’11) at the McNamara Academic Center is interesting, but it pales in comparison to how Emily con-spired to help him meet his future boss, Gophers head coach Jerry Kill. A few days after Kill arrived at the University of Minnesota in 2010, he attended a men’s basketball game at Williams Arena. Emily, who worked for then–head basketball coach Tubby Smith, made sure there was an empty seat next to Kill.
Sherels sidled up to Kill and delivered his best pick-up-a-job line: “Coach Kill,
From Gopher captain to Gopher coachmy name is Mike Sherels. I played football at the U and was a two-time captain, and I want to come work for you.”
Despite his nerves—or maybe because of his nerve—Sherels made an impression. Kill made him “special assistant to the head coach” in 2011—in essence, an intern.
“I have no qualms starting off at the bottom and paying my dues, so long as I’m in a system that rewards hard work,” Sherels says. “Because in that system I will come out on top more often than not. . . . I’m living proof of that.”
He certainly is. A product of John Mar-shall High School in Rochester, Sherels turned down scholarship offers from North
T
Mike Sherels instructs linebackers during practice
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Dakota State and Northern Iowa, opting instead to take his chances walking on at Minnesota. His risk paid off. From 2004 to 2007, he started 30 games at lineback-er for the Gophers, recorded 219 tackles, and is the only Minnesota walk-on ever to become a two-time captain.
Now the walk-on is a coach. Last March, just a few days before spring prac-tice began, Kill named Sherels linebackers coach to succeed Bill Miller, who left for Florida State. He’s thrilled to be a part of Kill’s renowned loyal and tight-knit staff.
On the same day Sherels was pro-moted to linebackers coach, his younger brother Marcus (B.A. ’10)—also a former walk-on star for the Gophers—signed a two-year extension with the Minnesota Vikings. Recently, after living with Mike for nine years, Marcus found a place of his own. “He finally moved out, one mile down the road,” jokes the elder Sherels. “It was a little awkward when he’s a millionaire living with his gradu-ate assistant brother.”
Sherels considers himself a cerebral coach, having absorbed the schemes and philosophies of the many coaches he’s played for and worked with. “I’m one that takes all that information and then turns it into my own with the bits and pieces that I like,” he says. “I enjoy the thinking side of the game.”
Kill calls Sherels wise beyond his years and a good teacher who has the respect of coaches and players alike. And there’s that deep shade of maroon he bleeds. “He knows more about Minneso-ta than any of us,” Kill says. “He’s taught us all about the University and the state.”
In that sense, Sherels can certain-ly talk the talk. “I can sit in a recruit’s living room and I can tell him that the University of Minnesota is the greatest place in the world,” he says. “I’m com-pletely sincere when I say it. I believe it because I lived it, and the best decision I ever made in my life was to walk on at Minnesota.”
That, and sitting down next to Jerry Kill.
—Rick Moore
Gopher Sports
Brawn and brains
By some measures, the 2013-14 academic year was the best on record for Gopher student athletes. Eighteen Gopher teams posted perfect Academic Progress Rates (APR) scores, the highest number of single-year perfect scores in Minnesota athletics history. The APR is the NCAA’s multiyear measurement designed to track student athletes’ eligibility and progress toward graduation. Nine teams posted perfect multiyear scores, which is also the highest number ever achieved at Minnesota.
Those statistics translate into the U being the highest ranked public institution in the nation for percentage of sports teams earning APR awards. It ranked fourth among all major colleges and universities, trailing only Northwestern, Notre Dame, and Duke.
Additionally, 295 student athletes were named Academic All–Big Ten. To be eligible, student athletes must be letterwinners who are in at least their second academic year and carry a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher. In the fall semester 35 of the 72 fall sports student athletes who earned the honor were football players, the highest number ever.
Women’s hockey player Kelly Terry, a senior, and gymnast Nathan Fortunato (B.A. ’14) were honored among the best in their sports. Terry was named the Western Col-legiate Hockey Association’s Outstanding Student Athlete of the Year and Fortunato received the NCAA Elite 89 Award for men’s gymnastics.
August 28 — Eastern Illinois
September 6 — Middle Tennessee State
September 13 — TCU
September 20 — San Jose State
September 27 — Michigan
October 11 — Northwestern
October 18 — Purdue • HOMECOMING
October 25 — at Illinois
November 8 — Iowa
November 15 — Ohio State
November 22 — Nebraska
November 29 — Wisconsin
Home games in bold. For game times, visit www.gophersports.com
Pregame Headquarters
McNamara Alumni Center will host its traditional pre-game party beginning two hours prior to kickoff at all home games. Food and beverages will be sold. Camara-derie and Gopher spirit will be available free of charge.
2014 Gopher Football Schedule
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www.acce s sm inneso t aon l i n e . comfor s tat ions and broadcast t imes
Access Minnesota … Issues that Matter to You.
On the radio, television and online — Access
Minnesota draws upon the expertise of the U of M
faculty for deeper insight into today’s pivotal issues.
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GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR MEMBERSHIP• Save on Gopher gear at the University Bookstores.
• Access thousands of publications on select U Libraries’ online databases.
• Boost your career with a professional development workshop.
• And much more. Explore all your member perks at www.MinnesotaAlumni.org/benefits.
A HEALTH CLUB FOR THE MIND
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) offers more than 350 courses on subjects as diverse as astronomy, history, current affairs, literature, contemporary theater, landscape archi-tecture, and more. In addition, more than 40 special interest groups (SIGs) provide enriching opportunities beyond the class-room in jazz, photography, knitting, play reading, and many other topics. One of the most popular is the biking, hiking, and snowshoeing SIG. Members of this active group are pictured here enjoying a hike on a beautiful fall day.
Fall term begins the week of September 15. Alumni Association members can join at a first year fee of $190, a $20 savings. Learn more at www.MinnesotaAlumni.org/OLLI.
MEET AT THE MAC
Stunning interiors, award-winning D’Amico Catering, and adjacent parking make the McNamara Alumni Center an ideal Minneapolis holiday party, conference, or meeting venue. The Center offers 35,000 square feet of on-campus meeting space, made up of 10 versatile rooms. Showcasing the Center’s Memorial Hall, this photo captures a state fair-themed holiday party.
The McNamara Alumni Center offers a special winter booking promotion through February 28, 2015. Choose two free add-ons—one from the Alumni Center and one from D’Amico Catering—when you book an event held November 1, 2014 through March 31, 2015. Add-on options include 10 percent off room rental, free projector rental, a free champagne toast, or trio table centerpieces. Details and available dates can be found at www.mac-events.org or by calling 612-624-9831.
Alumni Association fully paid life members enjoy special savings on McNamara Alumni Center space rental. Learn more at www.MinnesotaAlumni.org/MAC.
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FROM GOOD TO SUPER
Go from being a good leader to a su-per leader by enrolling in the Carlson School of Management’s Emerging Leaders Program, which will launch in February 2015. This compelling course will focus on important but often overlooked skills every high-potential leader needs for career advancement.
Collaborating with talent management and business leaders, Professor Connie Wanberg designed a dynamic combination of self-assessment, personalized coaching, five days of intensive in-class experiences, and a customized action plan to prepare participants for the next level as leaders. Learn more at www.carlsonschool.umn.edu/executive-education or call 612-624-2545 to speak with Kelly Sherer. Alumni Association members receive a 20 percent savings on all Carlson Executive Education business programs.
• Genomes: Understanding the Body’s Ancestry
• Unblocking Your Brain
• Curing Cancer
• All Hail Hops! A Beer Love A�air
• Frank Lloyd Wright and the Prairie School
• Inside the Supreme Court
• Exploring the University Archives
• Chicago: A History in Art
Short courses, Immersions, and Seminars
Experience learninglife
cce.umn.edu/learninglife
612-624-4000
Select fall o�erings include:
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Connie Wanberg Home FieldAdvantageConnect with the home team at the U of M Bookstores for the latest in Golden Gopher apparel & novelties, Maroon & Gold Friday events and more. Subscribe to our Gopher Fan Favorites sale and event list at www.bookstores.umn.edu. Shop with your UMAA member number & save in store and online.*
*Some exclusions apply.
Campus Seen
The new light rail train crosses the Washington Avenue bridge on the way to St. Paul.
PHOTOGRAPH BY SHER STONEMAN
Schedule preventive care.You know you’re tough, in that manly sort of way. Almost invincible. Almost. But you also have a family. You’ve got to stay healthy for them. Schedule eye exams, immunizations and other recommended screenings to take care of yourself … and the ones you love.
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or for more information call 1.866.SMILE 50
D E L T A D E N T A L I N D I V I D U A L A N D F A M I L Y P L A N S
Keeping your smile healthy is key to your overall health. If you’ve let your dental plan lapse, get back on track. For more than 45 years, Minnesotans have trusted Delta Dental with their family’s dental benefits. With the largest network of dentists and affordable dental plans starting under $22 per month, you can enjoy peace of mind and a powerful, healthy smile! Find a plan that fits your needs at ThePowerOfSmile.com, or call 1-866-SMILE-50.
INDIVIDUAL DENTAL PLANS THAT FIT PERFECTLY INTO YOUR RETIREMENT PLANS.
Delta Dental of Minnesota is a proud sponsor of Gopher Athletics.